Annie admired Queen Maeve deeply, and from the footage they had just seen, it was clear Maeve had done everything she could to save those passengers.
Billy Butcher shrugged.
"Yeah, next to that Asshole Homelander, Maeve practically glows like a saint. But sadly, she still couldn't save anyone."
Hughie gritted his teeth.
"So that's the real Homelander? Just a lying, heartless fraud! I don't believe for a second he couldn't have done something."
Deadpool raised his hand.
"I can vouch for that! Superman's done it—lifting planes and landing them safely. Homelander could have done the same. But clearly, this flag-draped psychopath didn't even want to try. Maybe in his eyes, those lives weren't worth the effort."
Thor scoffed with disdain.
"Power without compassion or purpose doesn't make you a hero. It makes you a disgrace."
Back in the footage, Queen Maeve was seen holding onto the mother and daughter, trying to convince Homelander to let them go.
"Please, just these two. I'm begging you."
But Homelander coldly refused.
"No! Are you seriously going to have them tell the whole world that we left a plane full of people to die?"
"Please…" Maeve pleaded again.
"Absolutely not!"
He wasn't budging an inch. Then, as more passengers crowded toward them, desperate for salvation, Homelander turned and roared at them.
"Back off! All of you, stay put! Don't move!"
To the terrified passengers, Homelander was their only hope. Of course, they wouldn't back off—they surged forward.
That was the last straw.
Homelander's facade finally shattered. His eyes lit up with red-hot rage as he screamed,
"I said BACK OFF! Or I'll laser every single one of you! You hear me?! I'll burn you all alive! Get the hell back!"
Faced with his terrifying outburst and glowing eyes, the passengers recoiled in fear.
Maeve reluctantly let go of the mother and daughter. The pleas and cries of the passengers tore at her, but she was caught in an impossible situation.
Homelander looked at her coldly.
"Come with me. Don't die with them."
In the end, Maeve gave in and followed Homelander as they flew away, helplessly watching the out-of-control plane plunge into the vast ocean below.
Inside the plane, chaos erupted. People were screaming, some even jumped out in panic—only to meet certain death. Meanwhile, Homelander floated midair, his arm wrapped around Maeve, watching the disaster unfold below with utter indifference.
In The Boys' universe, the internet exploded with backlash. The whole world had now seen the real Homelander—his coldness, his inaction, his utter lack of empathy.
"My god, he's a monster! How could he do that? Even saving just a few people would've been something!"
"This is the hero you all idolized? Think about it—if you were on that plane, and this was how your so-called savior treated you, would you still praise him?"
"Now I get it. These so-called superheroes? All of them are garbage! Honestly, I'm glad Translucent's dead. Homelander should be next!"
"Not all of them. At least Annie and Maeve haven't completely lost their humanity. They're victims too."
Homelander's public image, already plummeting after the Baltimore mayor assassination incident, hit rock bottom.
Ignoring warnings from Madelyn and others, Homelander burst out of Vought Tower and hovered high above the city, teeth clenched, eyes locked on the glowing screen in the sky.
His fury was overwhelming—an uncontrollable blaze burning beneath the surface.
With his super-hearing, he could hear the chants, protests, and insults coming from the angry crowds below. It only poured fuel onto his fire.
"Pathetic ants… all of them…"
He clenched his jaw, face dark with rage. His eyes began to glow ominously red. Looking down at the sea of tiny, helpless humans, he had the sudden urge to unleash a laser blast—wipe out swaths of them in one shot, just to shut them up.
But just then, in the corner of his eye, he noticed armed helicopters approaching.
Homelander wasn't afraid of them—not even close. But he wasn't ready to declare full-on war with the human military either.
With a whoosh, he shot upward, vanishing into the clouds.
Then came a furious roar—and another pair of crimson laser beams lanced toward the glowing screen.
As expected, they did absolutely nothing.
The footage continued.
The camera panned across the shore as ocean waves carried broken airplane debris to land. Maeve and Homelander stood silently, watching the aftermath. News vans had arrived. The story had gone public.
"They didn't have to die…"
Homelander faced the camera, wearing an expression of sorrow and righteous anger.
"We arrived three minutes after the incident. Why? Because we weren't called. If NORAD had summoned us before the jets took off, we could've saved them—123 men, women, and children… I'm sorry."
He even shed tears. Real ones. As if he truly regretted it all.
Say what you will—Homelander was one hell of an actor. He cried on command like it was second nature.
No one would have guessed that just minutes ago, this same man had threatened to incinerate an entire cabin of innocent people.
Cleverly, Homelander even used the tragedy as leverage—calling for his inclusion in the national defense system, seeking military recognition, and pushing Vought's agenda deeper into the defense sector.
Outside the screen, Deadpool clapped with gusto.
"Bravo! Bravo! Give this man an Oscar already. What a performance!"
Annie looked disgusted.
"It's sickening. I don't think he's ever said a single honest word in his life. Homelander… he's terrifying."
Billy Butcher shot her a glance.
"Ain't that the truth. Vought is full of lunatics—but Homelander? He's the biggest psycho of them all."
Stephen Strange chimed in.
"A crazy person is one thing. But a crazy person with godlike power? That's a threat to the entire planet... honestly, he might be even more dangerous than future-me."
"No, Stephen," Deadpool giggled. "You're selling yourself short. You're the guy who can snap his fingers and destroy the multiverse."
He paused.
"But if it were Homelander? I doubt he could destroy the world—unless he also draws infinite energy from the sun like Superman."
That's when Hughie suddenly froze, a terrible thought hitting him.
"Wait—if all of this dirt gets exposed... if the entire world sees it… what if Homelander snaps? What if he really loses it completely?"
___
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